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During the first four months of the year, the price of 1 x 2.44 metre red corrugated sheet grew 5%, and in the case of rustic pine formwork wood, it fell 2%.

The Index of Prices of Construction Materials -IPMC-, elaborated by the National Statistics Institute (INE), measures the variations of the prices of the eighty-nine (89) materials and services that integrate the representative basket of inputs that are used in the construction activity, using as base month December 2018 = 100.0.

The current reference prices reflect a downward trend, because during the first weeks of May, reserves of gasoline and distillates show minimal reductions, this has allowed prices to be more stable compared to the previous month, since the first half of May gasoline reported a 790,000-barrel decrease, while in April for the first half reported a 10.6-million-barrel reduction. Regarding diesel distillates, during the first fortnight of May a 1.4-million-barrel decrease was reported, while for the first fortnight of April it was 2.5 million barrels, a less marked difference, which affects the price of low-sulfur diesel for the next fortnight.

Because of the impact of the crisis, for this year it is estimated that the contraction in economic activity will be between 7% and 11%, and the open unemployment rate could increase from 5.5% to 8.5%.

Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development (Funides), contains estimates of the behavior of the country's economy for this year, within the framework of the political and economic crisis it is going through.

After in January, February and March of this year the year-on-year variation of the CPI was only 0.7%, 1.2% and 1.5%, respectively, in April the inflationary rhythm in the country slightly increased to 1.6%.

In the fourth month of the year, the price of the polarized box socket in Panama grew 12% over April 2018, and the stranded electric cable foot decreased 6%.

The accumulated average from January to April 2019, compared to the same period of 2018, showed increases in the Indexes of the current collector unit for polarized box in 12.9%, the foot of Carriola N°4 in 7.9% and the foot of Zinc N°26 corrugated galvanized in 4.6%, informed the General Comptroller of the Republic.

The costs of wood and roofs, and metals and derivatives, explained during the third month of the year the 14% year-on-year increase in the prices of construction materials in Nicaragua.

The results show that the Index of Prices of Construction Materials (IPMC) registered a 13.8% year-on-year growth with respect to March of the previous year (9.6% in February 2019 and 8.6% in March 2018), informed the Central Bank of Nicaragua.

In the fourth month of the year, the FAO food price index fell 2% over the same month in 2018, explained by the decline in prices of meat, cereals and vegetable oils.

From FAO's monthly report:

The FAO Food Price Index* (FFPI) rose in April 2019 to around 170 points, 1.5 percent (2.5 points) higher than in March and marking its highest value since June 2018. At this level, the FFPI would still remain 2.3 percent below its level in the corresponding month last year. Except for the sub-index for cereals, all the other sub-indices firmed in April, led by dairy and meat, and to a lesser extent vegetable oils and sugar.

After the year-on-year change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) between January and March this year ranged from 1.4% to 1.7%, inflation rose to 2.1% in April.

The groups with the greatest contribution to the variation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in April are: The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) reported that transport, rent and housing services were the main contributors to the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in April.

After March 2019, the year-on-year variation of the country's Consumer Price Index stood at 4.2%, in April it reached 4.8%, a rise explained by transportation prices.

The inflationary rhythm in April 2019 (4.75%) increased 0.83% regarding the observed in the same month of the previous year (3.92%). And compared to March 2019 (4.17%) it rose 0.58%, reported the National Statistics Institute.

Increases in the electricity, fuel and some food prices caused a 0.92% monthly variation to be reported during the fourth month of the year.

The categories with the highest contribution to monthly inflation were "Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels" with 0.37%, "Transportation" with 0.21% and "Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages" with 0.16% -concentrating 80.4% of the total-, likewise, the groups "Personal Care", "Furniture and Articles for Home Maintenance" and "Clothing and Footwear" contributed in less proportion, informed the Central Bank of Honduras (BCH).

The current reference prices are affected by the continuous decrease suffered in the inventories of gasoline and distillates such as diesel. According to the latest reports provided by the IEA, in April the reduction of gasoline registered an accumulated of 11.9 million barrels and distillates, from which diesel is extracted, registered 4.4 million barrels. This continuity directly affects the prices of oil derivatives, as it generates uncertainty in the markets and investors by observing abrupt drops in reserves and maintaining upward trends in prices.

During the third month of the year, the CPI registered a 1.82% monthly variation, mainly because of the prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco.

In cumulative terms, domestic inflation was 1.84%, year-on-year inflation was 5.09%, 0.25% higher than in March 2018, while base year-on-year inflation was 5.25% (4.20% in March 2018), reported the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN).